Team Sky narrowly missed out on a medal as BMC Racing claimed victory in the men’s team time trial on the opening day of the UCI Road World Championships in Spain yesterday.

The USA squad stopped the clock on a rolling 57.1km course around Ponferrada in a time of 1hr 3min 29sec, which was 32 seconds faster than runners-up Orica-GreenEdge and 36 seconds ahead of the two time defending champions Omega Pharma – Quick-Step.

Team Sky, led by Bradley Wiggins, finished two seconds further back in fourth, despite being reduced from their six starters to just four early on in the time trial.